Psychopath Billionaire | BBANGSAZ

xiv

H A N N I

One hour ago

I couldn't believe I was doing this.

I had taken a huge risk.

I was in one of Jake's cars with his assistant, Chan. He was an angry-looking thug, with red hair, piercing dark eyes, and a jagged scar that ran from his cheek and disappeared down his neck. He looked like he could handle fighting a dozen men easily, and that made me feel a bit less worried about Minji coming after me. Chan could handle Minji.

Or so I thought. Minji was a psychopath and calculating; she would kill Chan without blinking.

"You need to go faster," I urged.

"What are you so worried about?" Chan asked.

"If Minji finds me, you have no idea what she can do," I hugged myself, leaning further into the soft leather seat. "She'll probably kill you and torture me within an inch of my life." A shiver ran through my body.

"I've known her for six years, so I know I'm playing with fire," he put his hand over mine. "You need to be strong."

"First, I need to stop by my mother's house. I need to talk to her." It took me about an hour to get to the trailer park where my mother lived. The time was just after eleven at night, which meant Mom would be in bed. I hated waking her up, but this was urgent. I couldn't stay here because it was the first place Minji would look for me. I told Chan to wait in the car and that I would tiptoe to my house. I didn't want to wake the neighbors who had probably heard rumors about me. I didn't want to complicate things.

I knocked on the door once. "Mom, it's me, Hanni." There was no response.

I knocked again and called her name. When I knocked a third time, I heard the sound of footsteps and the door opened. I looked at a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a protruding belly, staring at me confused. Who was this man? Had my mom already moved? I wondered if I had knocked on the wrong house.

Had three months with Minji really dulled my memory?

The man looked at me with malice, his eyes scanning from the bottom up and resting on my face. I knew what he was thinking. What was a well-dressed girl in expensive clothes doing in this part of town?

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I'm looking for my mother, Rosé Pham. Is she here?"

"Rosé Pham?" The man scratched his head. "She doesn't live here."

"Then, where is she? Do you know where my mother is?" I was about to burst into tears.

Had things really changed this much while I was away?

The man slowly nodded. "I'm not sure. She used to rent this place before I did, but I heard from the neighbors that she moved to Cheongdam."

This couldn't be possible. Cheongdam was the richest part of this city. How could my mother afford to live in Cheongdam when she couldn't even pay the rent for this place? She used to work in a restaurant and help pay the bills.

"OK, thanks," I said and started walking towards the car when I stopped and walked back to the man. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

"If a woman shows up asking if I was here, just say I mentioned heading to Seongbuk." The man nodded. I thanked him and went back to the car, stunned. If Minji assumed I would be here, she would be wrong and would waste time driving two hours to another city. I slid into the car.

"Where to?" Chan asked.

"Cheongdam."